Following the conclusion of the VCT Masters Madrid, it's now time to go back to the regional play. The best teams from each top-flight division will compete to qualify for the VCT Masters Shanghai, Valorant's upcoming international event.
The VCT 2024 Americas include two of the current four best Valorant teams in the world as Sentinels won the VCT Masters Madrid while LOUD finished in fourth place.
Here's everything you need to know about America's top-flight division!
Format
The VCT 2024 Americas Stage 1 is divided into two phases: group stage and playoffs. Here's everything you need to know about them.
Group Stage
In the group stage, the eleven teams in the league are divided into two groups: Group Alpha and Group Omega. Each group is led by the two top seeds at the VCT 2024 Americas Kickoff, with Sentinels in Group Alpha and LOUD in Group Omega.
Additionally, each group includes:
- One Kickoff semifinalist
- One of the two teams eliminated in the Kickoff Play Ins
- At least one third-seeded team from the Kickoff group stage
- One fourth-seeded team from the Kickoff group stage
Following this format, Group Alpha includes Sentinels, NRG, G2 Esports, Cloud9, and KRÜ Esports, while Group Omega includes LOUD, Evil Geniuses, MIBR, Leviatán, FURIA Esports, and 100 Thieves.
During the group stage, each team will play five matches. For this stage, Riot has introduced cross-group matches, which means teams will play against the rosters from the opposite group.
For instance, a Group Alpha team like Sentinels will play against the Group Omega teams including 100 Thieves, Leviatán, MIBR, Evil Geniuses, and LOUD. Meanwhile, a Group Omega team like LOUD will play against the Group Alpha teams NRG, Cloud9, KRÜ Esports, and Sentinels.
Despite playing cross-group matches, the three best teams from each group will qualify for the playoffs, with the first seed automatically qualifying for the Upper Bracket Semifinals.
Playoffs
The playoffs will follow a hybrid system where the knockout round will be a single-elimination bracket. Starting from the Upper Bracket Semifinal, the bracket will follow a double-elimination format.
All of the matches in the Playoffs will be BO3 series except for the Lower Bracket Final and the Grand Final. The three best teams in the VCT 2024 Americas Stage 1 Playoffs will qualify for the VCT Masters Shanghai.
Dates
The VCT 2024 Americas Stage 1 will kick off on April 6 and will end on May 12. While the group stage will take place from April 6 to May 5, the Playoffs will be played from May 8 to May 12.
All of the VCT 2024 Americas Stage 1 matches will be played in Los Angeles, California, United States, at the Riot Games Arena.
Teams
Here's everything you need to know about the teams competing at the VCT Americas 2024 Stage 1!
Sentinels
Following Sentinels' victories at the VCT Masters Madrid and the VCT 2024 Americas Kickoff, the Americans head to the start of the stage as the league's favorites to qualify for Shanghai. Seeing them missing out on the next edition of the VCT Masters would be a surprise.
While the team didn't make any roster moves, the organization decided to move Bryan "pANcada" Luna to the inactive squad and added the former Cloud9 player Rahul "curry" Nemani to the roster's bench.
LOUD
The Brazilian-majority roster finished in fourth place in the VCT Masters Madrid. Shortly after, the team had problems returning to the United States as four of the five players faced problems with their visas — which forced them to stay in Northern Ireland to renew their documents.
As the team couldn't train properly heading to the first split of the season, LOUD's performances in the upcoming weeks could be strangely underwhelming.
Evil Geniuses
The home of the Valorant Champions 2023 winners was one match away from qualifying for the VCT Masters Madrid. Unfortunately, the Americans' defeat against LOUD meant that Alexander "jawgemo" Mor and his teammates wouldn't be in Madrid, Spain.
Although Evil Geniuses missed out on the VCT Masters Madrid, the team decided to not make changes heading to the VCT 2024 Americas Stage 1.
NRG
Similarly to Evil Geniuses, NRG were one map away from qualifying for the VCT Masters Madrid. The team's defeat against the eventual Kickoff and VCT Masters Madrid champions Sentinels saw the Americans missing out on Madrid, which was a big blow for the current world champions at NRG, Ethan "Ethan" Cole and Max "Demon1" Mazanov. Now, they will have a second shot at a VCT Masters title as the Americans expect to qualify for Shanghai, China.
G2 Esports
The former Ascension roster had a rock-solid top-flight debut after finishing in fifth place in the VCT 2024 Americas Kickoff, a run that included a 1-2 victory against the eventual VCT Masters Madrid champions Sentinels.
Heading to the first split of the VCT 2024 Americas, G2 Esports decided to part ways with Michael "neT" Bernet to sign Jacob "icy" Lange.
MIBR
While MIBR reached the Kickoff Play In, the team's initial 0-2 defeat against Sentinels made it very difficult for the Brazilians to sneak into the playoffs. Despite winning against G2 Esports, the Brazilians finished at the bottom of the Play In standings with a round difference of -8.
Cloud9
Following a slow start to the season with defeats against MIBR and NRG, Cloud9 are headed to the VCT 2024 Americas Stage 1 after having done two roster changes as the team added Kaleb "moose" Jayne and Dylan "runi" Cade. The Americans will try to qualify for the VCT Masters Shanghai, which would be the team's first top-flight international event since the Lock In.
Leviatán
Leviatán's season began with a victory against 100 Thieves in the team's first top-flight match since the additions of Ian "tex" Bosch and the world champion Corbin "C0M" Lee. Unfortunately for the South American organization, the team couldn't survive to the initial Kickoff group stage after 1-2 defeats against the eventual VCT Masters Madrid bounds LOUD and Sentinels.
FURIA Esports
FURIA Esports also decided to make a roster change heading to the VCT 2024 Americas Stage 1 as the Brazilians introduced the Argentinian Agustín "Nozwerr" Ibarra to the roster. The former Leviatán player isn't an unknown player for the Brazilian organization as he competed for the Black Panthers from January 2021 to October 2022.
KRÜ Esports
The Argentinian organization had a tough start to the season with two defeats against G2 Esports at the VCT 2024 Americas Kickoff group stage. Following the South Americans' performance in the first regional tournament of the season, the pink roster decided to sign the former MIBR player Olavo "heat" Marcelo, who had been inactive since the conclusion of the VCT 2023 Americas League.